New Delhi: It will be prestigious and full of honor moment for every Indian throughout the globe as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the first ever leader in the world who got chance to attend dinner with the United States President Donald Trump at the White House.
It is important to notice that Trump had not mentioned the name of Pakistan in his recent speech at the Arab-Islamic-US summit in Riyadh during which he mentioned the name of India by saying that it is most effected nations among the world who have suffered terrorists attacks.
On other hand, a senior administration official said on Friday, making it clear that the Donald Trump administration will carry forward the agenda set by the previous Obama administration for U.S.-India relations and in this regards the White House will “roll out the red carpet” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.”
Interestingly, the US President and Narendra Modi to spend five hours together, during their meeting some new areas on anti-terrorism cooperation to be announced between two of them.
Both leaders will spend nearly five hours on Monday, starting with a one-on-one meeting at 3.30 pm, followed by a delegation level meeting, a cocktail reception and a working dinner, the official said, briefing on background.
Modi will be the first foreign dignitary to be hosted by Trump for a White House dinner, the official added. Mr. Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for state dinners at his private golf resort Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
The President considers India a critical partner in dealing with a variety of global challenges, the official said, adding that defence partnership between the countries will flourish under the Trump administration. “We believe that a strong India is good for the US,” said the official.
Narendra Modi will be world’s first leader to attend dinner at White House:
While defence cooperation will be accelerated and enhanced, cooperation in energy, particularly natural gas, will be a new thrust in bilateral ties under the Trump administration, the official said. New areas of anti-terrorism cooperation will be announced during the visit.
The official gave clear indication that the pending Indian request for 22 unarmed Guardian drones would be cleared during the visit, saying no comments could be made before the U.S. Congress is notified on any arms sales.
Indian defence orders support thousands of jobs in the U.S. and the Indian student population supports another 64,000 jobs in the U.S. The White House official pointed out that Mr. Trump and Mr. Modi were two leaders with a large number of Twitter followers and both were innovative in their thinking.
Both leaders will read out a brief statement each after the one-on-one, but the they would not take questions from the media, a departure from usual White House practice after the President’s meeting with a foreign dignitary. Usually, both leaders take questions from the press.
According to the senior administration official, the Trump administration is concerned about tensions between India and Pakistan and “would like to see the normalisation of relations between the two countries.”
At the same time, the official made it clear that it would not offer to mediate between the two. “…we very much encourage India and Pakistan to engage in direct dialogue,” the official said.
